Very disappointed !!! Good for honey moon divers!!!

i went to the Red Sea for the frist time and stayed in Sharm. Well Sharm is Sharm you like it or not.

I made eleven dives and have been in the Strait of Tiran, Ras Mohamed Blue Hole and SS Thistlegorm.

I must confess that beside the Thistlegorm it was very disappointing for me, very few marine life !!!

I was not expecting to meet the big animals but resident animals i was expecting some more!!!

I usually go to Azores islands to dive about Octobre each year, but this one i went to the Red Sea and i can say that Azores islands are really a paradise when compared with the places i've been in Red Sea. Well to be honest there´s more live in the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and Spain then in the places i visited in the Red Sea !!!

During my stay i follow the pictures that my friends took in Azores islands during the same days and if i want to see some animals i open facebook at night at the hotel!!!

The other divers i met in the boats, beside they had a lot of dives, still the dive the "Padi" way. People need to stay really close other wise they feel scared !!!! I need space and time to take my pictures i dont loose the group out of sight but its not needed to dive like an old married couple !!! One of the buddys refuse to dive with me again because he said i was to concentrated on my photos and he was scared. Well he never dived in the Atlantic with 2 to 5 meters visibility thats for sure !!!

I haven't been to the Azores or Sharm but still think the most likely answer to your question is that you just have had bad luck picking your operator. All my Red Sea diving has been along the continental side from Safaga to Marsa Alam and the diving has been great, both with respect to marine life and dive operations. When travelling alone I've always been able to find capable buddies or have been allowed to dive solo. The thing to do is to find dive resorts that are completely focused on diving and attract hard-core divers like you. You will find very few bridal suites in these places but the diving and comeraderie is great.